UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

City celebrates New Year with Moon Pie

MOBILE, Ala., Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Residents of Mobile, Ala., received a special New Year's treat as a giant electronic Moon Pie was raised over the city to announce the start of 2009.

Some city officials said they hope the giant Moon Pie will become an iconic New Year's tradition akin to the crystal ball that falls on New York's Times Square, The (Mobile) Press-Register reported Thursday.

"It just makes Mobile more unique," resident John Holcomb, 21, said as the Moon Pie was hoisted by a crane across the Mobile River from Cooper Riverside Park.

The Moon Pie, comprised of graham crackers and marshmallows, was invented by the Chattanooga Bakery in 1917. A popular legend states the snack was created after coal miners asked for a treat as big as the moon. The dessert has since become a popular symbol at Mobile's Mardi Gras parades.

Woman using Web site to snag a husband

TRENTON, N.J., Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A New Jersey woman says she created the Web site 52weeks2findhim.com in order to give herself a countdown on finding Mr. Right.

Neenah Pickett of Somerset, N.J., said she is giving herself 365 days to find the right man to marry, but that doesn't mean she has to get married during that time span, the New York Daily News said Thursday.

"In 52 weeks, I hope to find him. I don't plan to walk down the aisle, but I want to meet him," the 42-year-old media consultant said. "Come New Year's Eve next year, I hope we'll be together."

The countdown on the interactive Web site officially began Thursday, New Year's Day.

Pickett said she chose to create the Web site and embrace its time restriction after failing to find the right man through more than 100 dates she organized online.

"You can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different results," she told the Daily News. "I was just sitting there, thinking things would happen."

Man in Thor costume scares off burglar

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A man who dressed as the Norse god Thor for a costume party in Scotland said he returned home and scared off a burglar who had entered his house.

Torvald Alexander, 38, a construction firm manager who stands at 6 feet tall, said he ran after the burglar with his red cape and silver-winged helmet still in place, making for an intimidating sight, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

"As soon as he saw me his eyes went wide with terror," Alexander said of the burglar. "He looked like he had had a few drinks and decided to do a late night break in, but he hadn't counted on the God of Thunder living here."

"I had just got back from a fancy dress New Year's party and because I have a Norwegian name I decided to go as Thor," he said.

Alexander said the burglar did not have time to steal anything from the house and fled from a ground floor window without his shoes. He said the shoes will be turned over to police to help them attempt to identify a suspect.

Customers repay store owner's trust

SETTLE, England, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- An English shopkeeper who wanted the day after Christmas off kept his store open with a sign telling customers to take what they needed and leave the money.

Tom Algie, who owns Practically Everything, a store catering to do-it-yourselfers in the village of Settle in Yorkshire, told The Daily Mail that he used a funnel and cereal box to create a container for payments. The next day, he found 187 pounds ($270) in the box.

The day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day, is a major holiday in England. Algie said that he wanted to spend the day with his family and to give his employees the day off as well.

"Settle is a lovely quiet rural town and there's never any trouble here. I put my faith in my customers and I wasn't disappointed," he said. "It was a spur of the moment decision, I just wanted to spend the holidays with my family but thought it would be quite nice to open up the shop, so this seemed like a good solution."